The present invention relates generally to computer based tools to help groups work together, and more specifically, to a method for aggregate control of and by a group of people through the use of an electronic computer network.
Computer software for helping groups work together has been known for at least twenty years. Electronic mail, such as that provided by cc:Mail, provides a basic digital messaging capability. Lotus Notes.TM., the first program geared to help groups to work together to gain wide acceptance, has made it possible to automate many office tasks.
However, there are problems which up until now have not been resolved. Here is the key problem:
How can a group of people interact on a computer system so that control is distributed among that group of people, rather than being controlled by a single appointed individual? PA1 Lotus Notes.TM. allows a programmer to specify a specific signature path for a form to follow in getting sign-off throughout a corporation. This provides a limited capability for distributing control for passing messages; person C doesn't see a message unless person B signed it; person B doesn't see it unless person A signed it. This starts to solve the problem of how you can have a group of people control something on a computer, but falls short: the fixed signature path can interfere with the give and take that is often associated with revision. For example, if two VP's sign off and it goes to the president, but the president requests changes before the document can be signed, the signature path does not automatically capture the company's policy about whether or not to get signatures from the two VP's. As a result, Notes often ends up interfering with corporate policy rather than facilitating it. PA1 Some commonly available software for electronic bulletin boards solicits ratings from users and shows entries with higher ratings more prominently. This helps filter messages without a moderator, but doesn't address the group control issue. Further, there are message rating systems currently available which let people supply ratings of each others' messages on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best). Typically, the net result is that most messages receive a rating of about 3.5. Because of this, people who tend to write messages become demoralized, and move on to other forums. PA1 Dating service programs group two people based upon how similarly they answer questions. This helps people wanting to date, but does little for larger groups, and doesn't address the group control issue.
This question raises a host of related questions for people working together on a network:
1. Of a large group of people on a particular service, how do you locate those with whom you would like to work together to achieve common goals?
2. On the Internet, and the Usenet specifically, people spend tremendous amounts of time arguing with each other on electronic bulletin boards, and very little time actually accomplishing proposed goals. How can a software application refocus this wasted effort toward something more productive?
3. On Usenet, people are more or less thrown together on a particular topic of discussion, regardless of their previous behavior on other topics. If they were rude or obnoxious in other areas, they have as significant a voice as someone who has been helpful on a topic for years. How can a software application remedy this situation?
4. How can the virtual world be linked with the real world, so that actions in the virtual world are more than "hot air" and have real-world ramifications?
5. How can someone reading an electronic bulletin board reduce the clutter of thousands of messages to get to the messages he or she is interested in, without yielding control to a single other individual, the dreaded "moderator"?
6. How can you tell whether you should trust another user you meet electronically on the Internet?
None of the software available today even attempts to provide solid answers to these questions. However, partial solutions have been proposed: